I am not a raving maniac

chevrons
Originally uploaded by sunasak

Apparently my last blog post was too angst-filled and had some of my friends worried. I was just a bit cranky, that's all, and you would be, too, if you had worked a month or so on a project only to find its ending not going well. But, thanks to you wonderful commenters and the kind folks at the yarn shop, I have come up with a plan for the beads on the Maelstrom, and tomorrow evening I will rip out what I have and go at it again, with fewer beads. I think it will go a lot faster that way, and not be so "crunchy." Some folks did like all the beads, but understood what my issue was once they touched the border. It is crunchy.

Jody (visiting briefly from the Netherlands) showed me a different way to do the bead attachment, which I need to try if I can just remember the name of the dental floss thing that does it. I know what it looks like, though, so I will go to the store. She is putting tiny seed beads on a shawl, and they look marvelous.

I can attribute a bit of my slight happier knitting mood to the fact that the Striped Celebratory Chevrons socks are done. In real life, the colors are much more muted and blendy, so the pattern shows up beautifully. I really love this pattern and highly recommend it. I hope the Loopy Ewe still sells it. It reminds you of the Monkey pattern with no purls on the outside, so it is all smooth and flowy. Click to see the larger photo to see how nice the pattern is. And the yarn. Wow, that is one nice bamboo blend. It is from the Twisted Fiber Arts Etsy store and is called Batty Organic Stripe. The base yarn is great and the dyeing is a step above the norm.

I am still working on the Wrap Me Up shawl, and will try to get a picture tomorrow (today is full of work and a high school football game). It is really a fun project. Never a dull moment, because you are always changing directions on the knitting and patterns! I made a fun ruffle yesterday. I'll have to set it aside to finish Maelstrom, but with my new plan, I am confident that WILL happen.

But also I started that nice, simple sock I mentioned last time. To balm my psyche. I am doing one sock, cuff down, K3P1 pattern, standard sock pattern in any way. Like comfort food, sometimes comfort knitting, a thing you know you can do and do well, soothes the soul.

Question for the crowd: What's YOUR comfort knitting?